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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 9 July 2025
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Displaying 3298 contributions

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Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

We are really out of time, but I will make one final request. Could you supply to the committee in writing a list of the private debt collection agencies that operate in Scotland?

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

For the avoidance of confusion, are you going to get, or are you now getting, regional level data about Scottish income tax receipts?

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Again, for the avoidance of doubt, have those discussions recommenced? You said that they are going to. Is that a future or a present description?

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Before Jonathan Athow does that, I will ask you a question. You said that the Scottish Government is in favour of a mixed economy, but it does not have a mixed economy in relation to the recovery of overpayments of social security, for example. It has a very clear policy that any overpayments through Social Security Scotland are recovered by in-house teams. That is not outsourced to private debt agencies, so why is this different?

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Okay. Thank you.

The other thing that you mentioned, which is of interest to not only the Public Audit Committee but the Parliament as a whole, is the fiscal framework and how that works. Of course, it works in a very particular way. If Scottish income tax receipts are at a certain level compared with UK income tax receipts, there are consequential effects on the operation of the fiscal framework, which can be advantageous but can also be disadvantageous. Can you update us on where the renegotiation of the fiscal framework is?

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Thank you very much.

The committee is aware that, in places, the reports prepared by the National Audit Office and the Auditor General for Scotland used language such as “continuing limitations” and “risk”, and identified some areas of concern. We will get to those shortly but, before we get into some of that detail, I will take you back to one of the fundamental issues raised in the audit.

The issue came out in the evidence session that we had on 9 February with the National Audit Office and the Auditor General. They drew our attention to the conclusion that the growth in Scottish income tax receipts in the financial year 2021-22 was expected to be 11.3 per cent, whereas the UK equivalent income tax receipts were expected to grow by 13.2 per cent. I turn to Alyson Stafford first. Can you give us an explanation of the Government’s thinking on why Scottish income tax growth has been lower than the growth in the UK as a whole in recent years?

Public Audit Committee

Decision on Taking Business in Private

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Good morning. I welcome everybody to the 14th meeting in 2023 of the Public Audit Committee. We have received apologies from Colin Beattie. I welcome Bill Kidd, who is substituting for him today.

The first item on our agenda is to decide whether to take agenda items 3 and 4 in private. Are we agreed to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

Thank you very much.

As you have suggested, those are very much the kind of areas that we want to probe, question and better understand. However, before we get to questions, I invite Jonathan Athow to give us an opening statement.

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

We are a bit pressed for time, so we will move on to another area that has been of special interest to the committee. Craig Hoy will ask about that.

Public Audit Committee

“Administration of Scottish income tax 2021/22”

Meeting date: 11 May 2023

Richard Leonard

We have a couple of minutes left. Jonathan Athow, if you want to add to that, please feel free to do so.